Swiss Vogt/Michel with second place ahead of Hall/Lawrence from Great Britain
Winterberg (RWH) Bobsleigh pilot Johannes Lochner (GER) is the 2-man bobsleigh winner at the BMW IBSF World Cup in Winterberg. With push athlete Georg Fleischhauer, the Olympic silver medallist set the best start and run times in both heats and relegated the Swiss duo Michael Vogt/Sandro Michel to second place. The Olympic fourth-placed team was 0.14 seconds behind Lochner/Fleischhauer.
Third place went to Brad Hall/Taylor Lawrence of Great Britain in Winterberg, 0.27 seconds behind the winners.
Olympic and World Champion Francesco Friedrich (GER), who suffered an muscle injury during sprint training at the end of December, missed the podium with Thorsten Margis - for the first time in the 2022/2023 season and in Winterberg for the first time since January 2014. The duo finished sixth.
Emils Cipulis from Latvia finished seventh with Mattis Miknis and was among the top ten in the World Cup for the first time. Timo Rohner (SUI), runner-up in the 2022 Junior World Championships, celebrated his best result in the BMW IBSF World Cup with Luca Rolli in tenth place.
In the overall standings for the 2022/2023 BMW IBSF World Cup, Johannes Lochner (GER, 842 points) took the lead with his second consecutive victory. Defending champion Francesco Friedrich (GER, 836) is close behind in second place ahead of Brad Hall (GBR, 804).
For more detailed information including athlete profiles and results please visit ibsf.org. Photos for editorial use can be found at Flickr. ©RWH2023
Johannes Lochner (GER, 2022 Olympic silver medalist)
"The joy is huge. That's how bobsleigh is fun, when we‘re in at the start, the runs go down well and then we‘re in front at the bottom. I really missed that in the last few years. Especially when now the spectators are cheering again at the finish.“
Michael Vogt (SUI, fourth at the 2022 Olympics)
„We had a super day today. We could keep up well at the start and especially the second run we could go one betterwas great. In the track quite a lot fit. It's a second place won, not a first place lost."
Brad Hall (GBR, World Championship fourth in 2019, European Championship fifth in 2022).
"I haven't had that much success here in Winterberg in 2-man bobsleigh so far and we didn't have a good race in Lake Placid either, so I was a bit nervous about this one. I'm very happy with our bronze medal and I'm looking forward to the 4-man bobsleigh race on Sunday."
Photos: IBSF / Viesturs Lacis
